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Register of Debates

The Register of Debates is a record of the congressional debates
of the 18th Congress, 2nd Session through the 25th Congress, 1st
Session (1824-37). It is the second of the four series of publications
containing the debates of Congress. It was preceded by the Annals of Congress and succeeded by the Congressional Globe.

There are fourteen numbered volumes in the Register of Debates series, resulting in a total of twenty-nine bound items.
While each volume consists of an index, more complete access to the information
may be obtained indirectly by using the indexes of the House and Senate Journals during the relevant session of Congress, which provide the dates
on which action was taken. These dates can then be consulted in the Register of Debates.
Appendixes include, but are not limited, to presidential messages and the text of laws.

The Register of Debates is not a verbatim account of the proceedings,
but rather a summary of the "leading debates and incidents" of the period. It was published contemporaneously with the proceedings by a commercial
printer, Gales and Seaton.

The Register of Debates and its successor, the Congressional
Globe, overlap for a period of time (23rd Congress,
1st Session through 25th Congress, 1st Session; 1833-37).